On Dec. 5, Cesar Gonzales-Baeza, a Mexican immigration detainee at the Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster, California, was electrocuted when the jackhammer he was using struck a high-voltage power line. Gonzales-Baeza was transferred to the University of Southern California Medical Center's burn unit, where he died on Dec. 7. The accident took place while Baeza and another detainee were moving fence posts as part of a voluntary program that allows detainees to earn $1 a day or extra visiting hours in exchange for performing kitchen, janitorial or other light work. [...]

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

While it is popular among U.S. presidential candidates these days to blame Mexican corruption for our huge undocumented immigrant population, corruption in the United States played a far larger role in compelling millions of Mexicans to cross our southern border with or without legal authorization.

by Peter Cervantes-Gautschi, December 4, 2007Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP)

Life began to get hard for most Americans beginning in the late 1990s due to increased family debt. During the same period, life got a lot harder for most Mexicans for the same reason. The same financial institutions created and profited from much of the family debt in both countries.

According to census reports, 70% of the government unauthorized immigrants in the United States are from Mexico. Most legally unauthorized Mexican immigrants in the United States are economic refugees from the 1995 devastation of Mexico's economy. [...]

Labor Department Announces New Proactive Approach to Enforcement

Working with Community Groups and Unions, Department Uncovers Serious Wage Violations by Several Brooklyn Retailers

BROOKLYN, NY (12/19/2007; 1326)(readMedia)-- Labor Department Commissioner M. Patricia Smith today announced a major proactive approach to enforcing the state’s labor laws in various industries, beginning in New York City. This new enforcement effort will partner with advocacy and community groups and unions to gather information necessary to conduct wage and hour investigations. This effort is part of Governor Spitzer’s emphasis on increased labor law enforcement for low wage workers.

Working on information from a nonprofit organization, Make the Road New York (MTRNY), and from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), Labor Department investigators walked a mile-long strip of Knickerbocker Avenue and inspected 26 businesses, during daytimes and evenings. They found that at least 19 of the 26 business had committed labor law infractions, including wage and hour and recordkeeping violations. Seven businesses remain under review.

"At the same time that immigration—especially undocumented immigration—has reached and surpassed historic highs, crime rates in the United States have declined, notably in cities with large immigrant populations (including cities with large numbers of undocumented immigrants such as Los Angeles and border cities like San Diego and El Paso, as well as New York, Chicago, and Miami). The Uniform Crime Reports released each year by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) demonstrate the decline of both violent crime and property crime at the same time that the foreign-born population has grown."

On Dec. 10, some 150 people marched to the federal building in Hartford, Connecticut, to demand an end to immigration raids. Activists were upset about the arrest of 21 Brazilian immigrants in early November in the city's Parkville neighborhood in a joint operation between local police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents [see INB 11/4/07, which reported that nine people had been arrested as of Nov. 2]. Local police said they had asked ICE to help them search for a Brazilian man being sought on attempted murder and robbery charges. They didn't find the suspect, but ICE picked up 21 other people suspected of being in the US without permission. [...]

[Jane Guskin and David Wilson, authors of "The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers," published July 2007 by Monthly Review Press, will be on hand selling and signing copies of our book--and we'll donate the profits from these sales to Victor's campaign. Join us in celebrating our book release and the resistance of a comrade in struggle, Victor Toro.]

Victor Toro is a citizen and national of Chile who was jailed and tortured there because of his opposition to the illegitimate Pinochet government (1973-1990). For more than 23 years, Victor and his wife Nieves Ayress (also a survivor of torture by the Pinochet regime) have been living in New York City and engaging in activism in the South Bronx, where they founded Vamos a La Peña, a nonprofit community organization that has served as a space for free expression and people's power for undocumented workers and other disenfranchised community members. On July 6, 2007, Victor Toro was arrested by US Border Patrol, an agency of the US Department of Homeland Security, while on board an Amtrak train in Rochester, New York. He was released on bond on July 9 and is now seeking political asylum with the help of his legal team. His wife Nieves is a US citizen; their daughter, Rosita Toro, is a legal permanent resident.Victor's next hearing is set for January 18, 2008 before immigration Judge Paul Defonzo at 9:00 am at 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY 10278.

Pickets in support of Victor Toro are held every Friday (weather permitting) from noon to 1pm at the federal building in Manhattan, northeast corner, Worth St at Lafayette St. For more information, contactthe Victor Toro Defense Committee: 718-292-6137, 212-631-7555, 646-291-2778, lapena2006@hotmail.com, mrncrls@aol.com, may1@leftshift.org

On International Human Rights Day, join us in calling on the federal government toStop the ICE Raids in Hartford!Release the Parkville Detainees!

March on the ICE Headquarters in HartfordMonday, December 10th, 5 p.m.

Gather at 4:30 p.m. in South Green Park (corner of Park and Main streets)Step off at 5 p.m. and march to the ICE headquarters, 450 Main St., for arally.

This will be a peaceful protest of the 21 arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Parkville neighborhood over the first week of November. ICE has terrorized Hartford by its actions and must be held accountable. Arrests of innocent working-people have nothing in common with a fair, humane immigration reform that recognizes the rights of immigrants to live and work in the U.S. Parkville: Never again!

[This call comes out of a unanimous vote of more than 50 activists from across the city and state at a public meeting last night at St. Augustine's Church which included members of the Connecticut Federation ofEducational & Professional Employees; American Friends Service Committee; Stop the Raids, Trinity College; Hartford Areas Rally Together; Hartford H.O.P.E.; Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice; Unidad Latina en Acción of New Haven; CT People of Faith; Latinos Againstthe War; Queers Without Borders; Campaign to Stop the ICE Raids in Danbury; Voluntown Peace Trust; CT Transadvocacy Coalition; Free People's Movement, as well as students and faculty from UConn, St. Joseph's College, Trinity, and CCSU.]

For more information or to get involved, contact Frank O'Gorman of CT People of Faith at 860-841-5006 or fog64@hotmail.com or Kate Prendergast of Stop the Raids, Trinity College, at 610-209-9264 orkaitlin.prendergast@trincoll.edu.A press conference announcing the protest will take place in front of ICE Headquarters, 450 Main St., on Monday, Dec. 10 at 11 a.m. Details to come.

For fliers, or if you'd like to sign on as a supporting organization, contact Rachel at newyorknewsanctuarymovement@gmail.com .Thank you, and see you on the 13th!

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(ESPANOL ABAJO)

Join us for a Candlelight Vigil at NYC Immigrant Holding Center!

Thursday, December 13, 6pm-7pm

at the ICE Varick St. Service Processing Center (201 Varick St.) in Manhattan

As we come together as families during this holy season, we remember NYC families who are being separated by current immigration policy. We hold light to these mothers, fathers, and children, and decry their suffering.

The vigil will be interfaith. Please join us!

Organized by the NYC New Sanctuary Coalition, Families for Freedom, Greater NY Labor-Religion Coalition, House of Peace, New York Immigration Coalition (list in formation).

Subway: 1 train to Houston St. Or, A/C/E/B/D/F/V train to West 4th. Walk south on 6th Avenue. Turn right on West Houston St. Walk one block to Varick St.

In the 2006 elections, aspiring Democrats attacked the Bush administration's free trade policies, and more than 20 new members of Congress were elected, giving the Democratic Party its new majority in the House of Representatives. Yet two weeks ago Democratic Party leaders urged those same members of Congress to vote for a new free trade agreement with Peru.

Most rebelled, but enough Democrats voted for the Bush administration proposal, along with every Republican, to push it through the House. The Senate is expected to take up the agreement any day now.

Why would Democrats support the administration's trade policy, when campaigning against it helped them win in the last election? Try money.

Fourteen years ago, the promoters of the North American Free Trade Agreement promised that free trade would produce jobs. We hear the same claim today for the agreement with Peru, as well as the other agreements Bush has negotiated with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

NAFTA certainly produced some winners. Large corporations moved high paying jobs south of the U.S.-Mexico border in order to cut their labor costs and increased their profits. Mexico created a new generation of billionaires. But rising profits did not produce jobs.

By November of 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor had certified 507,000 workers for extended unemployment benefits because their employers had moved their jobs south of the border. The Department of Labor stopped counting NAFTA job losses, but the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., estimated that NAFTA had eliminated 879,000 jobs. That was five years ago.

But U.S. job loss didn't produce job increases in Mexico - it eliminated them there too. In NAFTA's first year, more than a million jobs disappeared in the economic crisis NAFTA caused.

To attract investment in Mexico, the treaty required privatization of factories, railroads and other large enterprises, leading to more layoffs of Mexican workers.

On the border, Ford, General Electric and other corporations built factories and moved production from the United States to take advantage of low wages. But more than 400,000 maquiladora workers lost their jobs in 2000-2001 when U.S. consumers cut back spending in the last recession, and companies found even lower wages in other countries, such as El Salvador or China.

Before NAFTA, U.S. auto plants in Mexico had to buy parts from Mexican factories, which employed thousands of local workers. But NAFTA let the auto giants bring in cheaper parts from their own subsidiaries, so Mexican auto parts workers lost their jobs, too.

The profits of U.S. grain companies, already subsidized under the U.S. farm bill, rose higher when NAFTA allowed them to dump cheap corn on the Mexican market, while at the same time it forced Mexico to cut its agricultural subsidies. As a result, small farmers in Oaxaca and Chiapas couldn’t sell corn anymore at a price that would pay the cost of growing it.

When corn farmers couldn't farm, or auto parts and maquiladora workers were laid off, where did they go? They became migrants.

The real, dirty secret of trade agreements is displacement. During the years NAFTA has been in effect, more than 6 million people from Mexico have come to live in the United States. They didn’t abandon their homes, families, farms and jobs willingly. They had no other option for survival.

Farmers and workers throughout Central America, who saw what NAFTA did to Mexicans, have protested, marched, and even fought in the streets of El Salvador, Guatemala, and most recently Costa Rica, to stop ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Now that rebellion is spreading to Peru.

No major union or organization of poor farmers wants the trade agreement that the Bush administration negotiated. No wonder. They don't want to say goodbye to their families, and start looking for work in Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York.

To get the Peru treaty through Congress, its supporters claim it will protect labor rights. Peruvian unions don't believe this promise any more than they believe it will bring them jobs.

Today a huge mining corporation, Grupo Mexico, has provoked a strike by demanding that miners work 12 hours a day instead of eight in Peru's largest copper mine. The Peruvian government supports the company, because it believes longer hours and lower wages will attract more foreign investment. Since NAFTA passed, the same company has forced strikes and cut thousands of jobs at its Mexican mines to cut labor costs, and the government there has also cooperated.

Those freshmen members of Congress have a better grasp on global reality than their party leaders, who are enthralled by the siren song of big contributions from corporate free traders. But those newly elected Democrats will have a hard time going back to their districts and explaining to constituents why their party allowed the treaty to pass.

Party strategists think Democrats can accept big contributions to support the Bush free trade program. They calculate that unions, workers, displaced immigrants and those hurt by the treaties have nowhere else to go in 2008. They're wrong. They could stay home - the Democrats certainly won't be giving them much reason to get out and vote.

About The Politics of Immigration

The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers is a book that goes beyond soundbites to tackle concerns about immigration in straightforward language and an accessible question-and-answer format. For immigrants and supporters, the book is a useful tool to confront stereotypes and disinformation. For those who are undecided about immigration, it lays out the facts and clear reasoning they need to develop an informed opinion. Ideal for classroom use, the updated and expanded 2017 edition provides a succinct overview of U.S. immigration history, policy, and practice, with detailed notes guiding readers toward further exploration.
Guskin and Wilson have written extensively on immigration and facilitated dozens of dialogues on the topic with students, community activists, congregations, and other public audiences. To arrange a dialogue or for more information, contact them at thepoliticsofimmigration@gmail.com.
To stay in the loop on author events and related resources, follow the book on Twitter (@Immigration_QA) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ImmigrationQA/).